For the last dozen years, the National Institute on Media and the Family has released a pre-holiday shopping report card aimed at helping shoppers find video games that are appropriate for their children. The 13th annual report card, released today, gives the video game industry its highest marks ever and puts the onus on parents themselves. "The industry has really responded," says institute co-founder David Walsh.
The Entertainment Software Ratings Board earned two "A" grades for adding summaries to video game packaging that explain the game's content that earned the respective rating and for promoting its rating system to parents.
Video game console makers (Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony) also earned an "A" for including parental controls, built-in playtime timers and parental education.
However, parents were given an "Incomplete" grade for not monitoring the games their children play. "While we will continue to hold (the video game industry) accountable with the report card what became clear to us this year is (that) the industry has responded," Walsh says. "Yet still we have a lot of kids particularly teens playing Mature-rated games, a lot of them are doing it without their parents' knowledge. Parents need to pay more attention to the games their kids are playing."
It's nothing new that children and teens want to play games -- or see movies -- that are not appropriate for their age level. And often, parents may look the other way or even decide that their child is mature enough to play a Teen or Mature-rated game.
But Walsh warns that "parents need to pay attention to the fact edgier games are getting edgier. "It’s the parents' job to know what (kids) are playing and to say 'No.' The good news is they don’t have to say 'No' to playing video games. Instead of playing (Mature-rated) Grand Theft Auto, you can say, play a game like (Teen-rated) Spider-Man: Web of Shadows. There are good sports games and there are good adventure games."
A family game to consider is LittleBigPlanet, pictured above. "The real promise of games is that it really gets players to use their head and not just their quick reaction, to literally do some brainwork solving puzzles and whatever," Walsh says. "LittleBigPlanet has literally the ability to build and create a game within the game."
Walsh also highlighted music games and fitness games such as Wii Fit as signs that game developers are looking beyond traditional shooting and fighting games. "One of the things parents really need to pay attention to is getting kids active," he says. "As video games encourage physical activity, I think there is going to be more and more interest in those games and that means more of a market for those games."
The Institute's recommended games for 2008
E-rated games (games for Everyone, usually ages six and older; full game descriptions and parents guide at www.mediafamily.org)
- All Star Cheer Squad (THQ, for Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS)
- Animal Crossing: City Folk (Nintendo, for Wii)
- FIFA Soccer 09 (EA Sports, for Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and DS, Sony PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable and PC)
- Hasbro Family Game Night (Electronic Arts, for Wii and PlayStation 2)
- High School Musical 3: Senior Year DANCE! (Disney Interactive, for Xbox 360, Nintendo DS and Wii, PlayStation 2 and PC.)
- LittleBigPlanet (Sony, for PlayStation 3)
- Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy (Her Interactive, for PC)
- NBA LIVE 09 (EA Sports, for Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3)
- NCAA Basketball 09 (EA Sports, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3)
- Samba de Amigo (Sega, for Wii)
T-rated games (games suitable for those aged 13 and older)
- Guitar Hero World Tour (Activision Blizzard, for Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3)
- Rock Band 2 (MTV/Harmonix, for Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3)
- Rock Revolution (Konami, for Nintendo DS and Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3)
- Shaun White Snowboarding (Ubisoft, for Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable; a version for the Wii is called Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip.)
- Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (Activision, for for Nintendo DS and Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable and PC)
Games to Avoid for Children
- Blitz The League II (Midway, for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3)
- Dead Space (Electronic Arts, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC)
- Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC)
- Far Cry 2 (Ubisoft, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC)
- Gears of War 2 (Microsoft, for Xbox 360)
- Left 4 Dead (Electronic Arts, for Xbox 360 and PC)
- Legendary (Gamecock, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC)
- Resistance 2 (Sony, for PlayStation 3)
- Saints Row 2 (THQ, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC)
- Silent Hill: Homecoming (Konami, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC)
By Mike Snider
(Photo of LittleBigPlanet by Sony)